A sequel to Switcheroom. Goal is the same - recreate original id maps in a different thematical style, to provide an interesting experience - you'll relive the originals in a new, unexpected way. But for a change, Switcheroom 2 focuses on Doom 2 maps instead of D1 ones.

The project aims to be vanilla compatible.

Alpha release

The megawad was in slow progress for a year and a half. Now, finally, we have enough decent maps to compile a full 32-map alpha release. Testing phase starts now.

Anybody feel free to play through the alpha, share observations, report bugs and suggest improvements of any kind. I will appreciate it! The project is still on a way to improve - particular maps can be improved, reworked, or replaced if needed. However, I will let the tuning-up work on respective authors themselves. I don't plan to do changes to anyone's maps against his will. Once things get moving, I will try to keep contact with the authors about it.

Map names

Even though I asked them, some mappers didn't give a name to their maps. To be honest, I also don't like many of the current generic names. I don't plan to change any existing map names against the author's will, but we've yet got to discuss it, and I'm accepting suggestions for map names from anybody. Specially for the maps that don't have a name yet.

Map order changes

During development of the project, each map had to be claimed for a certain map slot. However, the only goal was to recreate a general theme (Base or City or Hell or Nazi). Not all mappers followed it, but anyway, the maps can be shifted now. The general order Base -> City -> Hell (with Nazi secret maps) should stay the same. But I'd be willing to change map order within each episode according to their difficulty and complexity, for the sake of improved continuous playthrough.

I want input from playtesters, participants and possibly anybody else about this idea, or suggestions for particulars map orders.

Screenshot galore (clickable thumbnails, one picture per map)

Even more screenshots here: (due to forum software limit of images per post)

Think about these themes in their pure form. For example a lot of actual Doom 2 Hell maps don't follow Hell aesthetics exactly - but your maps will in Switcheroom 2.

How claiming a map goes: You pick both a Target Mapslot and a Layout Pattern. You will be working with the layout of the map you picked as Layout Pattern, and converting it into the theme of your Target Mapslot. In the (possible) resulting megawad of Switched-maps, your map will take place in the Target Mapslot, so build it there.

Your Target Mapslot and Layout Pattern must be from different themes! This is given both aesthetically and by the mapslots inside Doom 2:
Maps 01-11: Base
Maps 12-20: City
Maps 21-30: Hell
Maps 31-32: Nazi

So, you cannot claim for example MAP21 and MAP25 together. But, you also cannot claim for example MAP27 for a city slot, because MAP27 in particular is clearly more of a city than Hell. You can't pick it for Hell either, though. Pick as different style for your map as possible, for the sake of an interesting uniqueness!

DO NOT MAKE A SIMPLE MIX OF MAPS. You should follow the layout of the Layout Pattern. The basic structure and connection of rooms should remain the same, the rough look of rooms should remain the same, and must be recognizable. But you're allowed to have a leeway in pretty much everything else. Change texturing, shapes, scale, lengths, detailing, mechanics, in order to achieve the feel of the Target Mapslot theme.

Theme: Stick just to the general theme - Base, City, Hell, Nazi. You do not have to imitate the style of your Target Mapslot in particular, just the theme. But you're allowed to do it, of course. And in fact, it'd make things interesting, so feel free to do it, just be sure it's no obligation.

DO NOT add areas to the Layout Pattern, or substract areas from it. Keep the base layout the same, as was said previously. The exception is secrets, you can add or remove them as you wish and consider right.

DO NOT add there even areas from the Target Mapslot map. This shouldn't be a mixture of maps. However, you are allowed to transform a certain room from your Layout Pattern to resemble (or play like) a certain part of the Target Mapslot, if you consider it fitting.

Compatibility: Your map should be vanilla-compatible and use stock textures only. Doom 2 is the IWAD. Your map doesn't have to comply with vanilla's savegame buffer limit, but should follow all other static limits otherwise.

This time, custom music is allowed. But you must mention where your music is from.

Give your map an interesting name. The name should not be more than one or a few characters longer than the original slot's name because of technical reasons - DEHACKED doesn't allow for longer strings. As this is a minor issue, we may discuss it later - I'll elaborate on the exact name lengths then.

To claim a map, post in the thread and claim your Target Mapslot and Layout Pattern. When your map is done, post it in the thread. No changes will be made to it without your permission, you may only receive a criticism about compliance to the rules, and may be asked to rework it.

Last, the obvious rule: Switcheroom's goal is mainly to come up with interesting ways how the IWAD levels could be tweaked. Do your best to create a great and mindblowing deja-vu experience to the audience! It's even more important than anything else, even than attempting to perfection in the "map-switch". Be creative!

Yay...I had an kind of premonition that this was going to start soon, and allready began to work on an abstract version of map 5 which is getting quite mixed between city and hell theme. So i think that i'll claim slot 21 cuz it might fit the most.
Not sure about the name so lets call it "Wasted Nirvana" right now.

Memfis: Nothing prohibits you from imitating a theme from a certain map. I'm expecting mappers will do it anyway, and it won't be wrong, as the particular maps already do follow the general theme. In fact it may get interesting, my MAP12 has many touches of The Factory too. Well, I just wanted to make that clear.

Sorry for long rules, I wanted to specify the idea in detail to prevent misunderstandings, you know.

The rules for this one compared to the original seem like what Invisible War did to Deus Ex: everything is dumbed-down and there's less freedom for exploration. Why are the theme buckets so broad? Why can't the levels put their own spin on the layouts and progression rather than copy everything exactly? Why are there all these "do nots" that serve only to shoot down ideas before they're ever made? Why can't I make a Condotown? I can already imagine exactly how that'd work and it'd be awesome.

scifista42 said:
[*]Theme: Stick just to the general theme - Base, City, Hell, Nazi. You do not have to imitate the style of your Target Mapslot in particular, just the theme. But you're allowed to do it, of course. And in fact, it'd make things interesting, so feel free to do it, just be sure it's no obligation.

DO NOT add there even areas from the Target Mapslot map. This shouldn't be a mixture of maps. However, you are allowed to transform a certain room from your Layout Pattern to resemble (or play like) a certain part of the Target Mapslot, if you consider it fitting.

SIMPLY PUT, DO NOT CHANGE THE LAYOUT JUST TO ADD HOMAGES!

Homages aren't expressly forbidden. It's about incorporating homages without making drastic changes to the basic lay-out. Tacking on extra areas, just to say you have some homages, was rampant in the first Switcheroom.

I think the stricter rules are a good idea (but that shouldn't be surprising since I was pushing for stricter interpretations in the last one, YES I'M LOOKING AT YOU MEMFIS! haha). The core concept is "Map X in Episode/Aesthetic Y", so the rules here are necessary to avoid both 1) maps that just seem like mashups of two map layouts rather than one map layout with a different map theme, and 2) avoid changes that make the map unrecognizable.

I am a little worried though about the "some Hell maps are clearly city maps" such as the example that MAP27 is a city map, not a hell map. While that makes sense (no point to doing "MAP27 as a city map") you might find when you start getting near the end that there aren't enough theme slots available.

EDIT: To address the problems with strictness, I think that Megalyth's quote of the rules explains it well. The important is just to avoid adding homages beyond the borders of the original layout. Nearly everything else is allowed, so there's a lot of space for ideas and changes. See also the last point of the rules.